


Flowers for BMO, King of Ooo

by PrinceOfOneSingleDomain



Series: Flowers of a Future Ooo [1]
Category: Adventure Time
Genre: 1000+ Ooo, Friendship, Future Fic, Gen, Loneliness, Memorials, Memories, Moving On, Spoilers, Unexpected Visitors, after the finale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-16
Updated: 2018-09-21
Packaged: 2019-07-13 05:01:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16010819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrinceOfOneSingleDomain/pseuds/PrinceOfOneSingleDomain
Summary: What has he seen? Did BMO ever think he would be one of the last few people remaining from a golden age of wonder and adventure?  And, more importantly, how's he really doing, anyway?Beth and Shermy decide to pay another visit to the King of Ooo, for his sake.Takes place after the finale, with mentions of a few other characters and what they might be up to.Now with a third "Epilogue" chapter.





	1. A lazy haze-type day, okay?

The foreboding steps of the Prize Ball Guardian sounded a bit jittery today, Shermy thought – he must be scared the knot would hold this time, certainly he must. He’d been practicing, slinging rope over rope, working out the kinks of a new, genius knot he called the “Shermangian Dungeon”, because it would keep anyone bound by it forever, like a good dungeon. Which is why he had chosen the name.

Beth nodded and blew a raspberry. “You’re so dumb.”

“I am a genius of knot culture, and future pups will know my splendour”, Shermy answered.

They were lying on a large rock, seeing the Prize Ball Guardian way in the distance. The clouds parted to reveal the blue-grey sky above, and a ray of sunlight hit his glass so perfectly it sprayed out into a bunch of rainbow-coloured streams.

“Woah, look at that! Beth! Beth! Look at that! Beth? Beth!”

“I’m up Shermy, what’s the matter?”

“Look!”

A last ray of sunlight briefly touched the Banana Guard floating along before it returned behind the clouds, illuminating the clouds from behind. Shermy could still make out a part of them that was lighter than the rest, like a mouth someone had put a small flashlight inside of – he remembered their first sleepover party with Princess Zip very well. She sure had a one-track-mind, alright.

“It’s nice, yeah”, Beth said before leaning back again.

“What’s up, Beth? You look kinda bummed out. Wanna go get the PBG?”

“Nah, that’s not the kind of day this is, I think. I just wanna stay here. Think about junk.”

“What kind of junk? Gross junk?”

“Maybe. Mostly sad junk, though.”

“Awww man, I hate that kinda junk! You’re not gonna cry again like last time, right? When we watched that movie about the guy going bonkers because of his crown or something?"

“You cried.”

“I thought we’d agreed on a story, Beth. I was just checking.”

“In public, yes – but I know the truth and you can’t make me change it. Crybaby.”

“That’s it. No longer on speaking terms.”

They watched the clouds go by. Forever.

“What kinda sad junk are we talking about here?”, Shermy asked. He climbed on top of Beth so he could look her right in the eyes, but then turned around to face the clouds again. The steady rhythm of her breathing underneath him would have lulled him to sleep if she hadn’t said something.

“Do you think the King of Ooo gets lonely up there? Like, you know, he’s got all his thingamajiggs and mementos and all that funky stuff, but there’s nobody else there.”

“Nah, he’s probably fine. He’s the king, right?”

Beth shook her head.

“That’s not how that works, I think”, she said, “because, you know, who would come visit him? I don’t think anyone’s alive from that time. Except Pep-But, and he’s busy.”

“We could ask him if he wants to come visit the King, I’m sure they have crazy stories! Like, all kinds of mathematical stuff.”

Shermy sat up. “Can you imagine? Pep-But and the King! I could listen to ‘em all day.”

Their first encounter with Pep-But had been anything but relaxing, though. Shermy still sometimes woke up at night and crawled into Beth’s bed when he remembered how his eyes had been alight with fire the moment he’d first seen them. He had guarded the open gate to the Nightosphere for so long it took a while to convince him they weren’t lost demons on their way back.

Now, he sometimes called them on Beth’s beepaphone to ask how things were on the surface, and they ended up bringing some lost Nightospherians his way whenever they showed their face and made trouble in the village. Shermy and Pep-But even had a two-minute-long high-five routine worked out by now, one Beth could potentially participate in some day. Maybe. If she felt like it.

He never told them about anything in the old times, though. Whenever they asked him whether he knew what the broken statues were, or where the large tree came from, or even whether he knew some of the people mentioned in T. Princess's books, he hid himself in a cloak of silence. Sometimes literally. He had a cloak next to his chair by the Nightosphere-Gate that had "Cloak of Silence" written on its back in bold, well-sewn letters, and started wearing it when they asked him about the old stuff. 

Beth shook her head.

“I'm not even sure they know each other, and I doubt he’ll leave the gate, especially now. It’s high season for Nightosphere tourism.”

“Really?”

“Don’t you remember the flyer he gave us?”

“That was just a picture of lava.”

“A picture's worth a thousand words, Shermy.”

“So, what about the King?”

“I think I’ll pay him a visit.”

“What do you mean _you?_ _You and me together, that’s two, and two…”_

_“My friend, that’s me and you.”_

They both blew raspberries at each other and pumped their fists into the air exactly two and a half times, as custom demanded.

Shermy jumped down from Beth, brandished his new sword – pure light steel with a brilliant blue gem in its hilt – against the cloudy sky and pointed forward.

“Shall we go, then?”

“We can’t just come empty-handed.”

“We’ll find something on the way, I’m sure! Life is full of adventure, Beth, we must seize it before it sucks the living daylights out of us!”

“That’s morbid.”

“I _am_ a deep thinker.”

“Alright then – I’ll grab some stuff from home though, alright?”

Beth’s tummy opened to reveal a glowing core, looking much like a mirror coated in water.

“You betcha!” Shermy sheathes his new sword and strapped it to his back. He put his arms back, his foot forward and tensed all of his muscles at once, like a bow ready to launch its arrow into oblivion. “LEAP OF GROB!”

He quietly stepped through the portal in Beth’s stomach.

She giggled and followed suit, disappearing and then reappearing much closer to their home, a small tree where she’d sent Shermy, though let out a huff when she realised she hadn’t made any progress since last time – a couple of miles seemed to be her super-dupermost limit.

They reached the home after a short bout of walking. Shermy couldn’t be still for a second, thinking out loud about all the truly algebraic things the King must have seen, but Beth liked him this way. In a world that could be very quiet if you were out and about in the world, Shermy’s voice as a pleasant constant, like one of the rare bird’s songs they heard around the PBG.

“So, let’s see what he might like”, Beth said as soon as they entered their home. Shermy immediately jumped onto his bed and fell asleep, snoring loudly while she rummaged through their belongings.

Not this, not that, not this either – this one’s dangerous, gotta file it away before Shermy gets his hands on it. He could shoot one of them off in a second if he didn't pay attention, which he probably wouldn't. Beth put everything back into its respective drawer, quietly whistling a tune she'd once heard about the food chain.

She grabbed a book she had recently brought home from the library – “Relics of Ooo”, again written by T. Princess with a small foreword by B. Bubblegum. She thumbed through the pages – maybe they’d already found one of the relics described in loving detail within, but nothing on the sketched illustrations looked like anything she’d ever seen. There were crowns, sure, and swords, even a drawing of the long-destroyed Enchiridion. But nothing either her and Shermy had ever seen.

Except for his sword. She opened the page and immediately recognized its shape, colour and everything – it was the very same one they’d found in the tree. She’d have to show him once he woke up again.

She set the book down a bit more abruptly than she’d meant to, huffing a little – they didn’t have anything to show the King, anything at all.

Right then and there, a small Polaroid picture fell out of the book, glided across the table and gently floated down to the floor before Beth picked it up. It was old and faded, frayed at the edges with more than one century spent going to and fro, wandering around the library for years after it had already traveled Ooo for Glob knows how long, but it was still there.

Much like the King of Ooo was.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing Shermy and Beth sure is interesting - there's barely anything on them, but it still feels like their dynamic is well-defined. 
> 
> Have fun with this one! Just one more chapter to go.


	2. The Brighter Past

Clouds drift past BMO's home, slowly moving the sky's white spots north, where he watches them change shape, combine, disappear. He's found clouds to be the sort of companions he had in his youth, when he wasn't yet the genius white wizard man with a kick-butt beard he was now. Clouds, like Finn (or was it Phil? Or Flarp? It could have been Flarp!) or Jake, changed form. They were there.

And then, they were gone.

He stood up from his place by the window and wandered off toward the back end of his house, where he kept the sort of unimpressive mementos he didn't want any visitors to see. Not that he had many, mind. The King of Ooo was supposed to be a legend, and rightly known as one - Marceline even wrote a little song about him before she left. 

She'd left him an instrument there in the back, a tiny Ukulele with black flames all over its body. He touched it now. The strings were still mostly in tune, but it had grown dusty over the course of just a couple of days since he'd last played it. Now seemed like a good time, then. It was mounted on a wall just low enough for him to reach, but he still had to stand on his tippy-toes. 

"I shall reach you, instrument of my woes!", he said, to nobody in particular. After waiting a couple of moments, just to see if someone would answer, he sighed a small, adorable robo-sigh and took the Uke down from its resting spot. 

He cleared his throat. 

"Mi, mi, mi - my, you've grown quite rusty, King of Ooo."

He looked at himself in a half-broken mirror hidden between two stacks of books. 

"Look at yourself. You've really let yourself go. Look at your belly."

He pat his body, almost hitting one of his buttons. 

"But you're still beautiful. I love you", he said. It made him smile, and a weird warmth spread around his heart. He thought of Moe, his Pooop, his memory disk floating around in space, and it made him smile even wider. How many things he must've seen by now - and how many other things might have seen him. 

BMO remembered the day Marceline had taught him how to play the song, long after Fuller and Jake had gone to be like the clouds. 

_"It's hard to be a king of Ooo, it's hard to be a Queen, too,_

_but if you think you know a dude_

_who might just be the King of Ooo_

_let me tell you..."_

BMO took a deep breath before the song sped up.

_"If he's not a thousand years old,_

_if he doesn't know all stories told,_

_if he doesn't live on a mountaintop_

_then you might think it's him, but it's not._

_If he's so smart and so brave,_

_if he's just too well-behaved,_

_if he won't need to shave,_

_then it's him, yes, it's probably him."_

That was the part she spread around the world, teaching it to a couple of newer bards who then kept the song alive for, what was it now? Three hundred years? BMO had stopped counting. He'd vehemently objected to the shaving part (he shaved every single day, didn't Marceline know that?), but then she'd merely smiled, shook her graying hair and hugged him close before she left. On his back, he found a last verse in a folded piece of paper, taped to the place where she'd hugged him, and he kept it under his pillow, where he kept all his favourite things. 

Just as he was about to sing it, for the first time in forever, he heard a loud sound coming from his proximity radar.

"Oh my, visitors! It's a busy week at the King's castle", he said.

He put on his beard and crown and quickly walked to the door. What kind of king was he if he didn't use his technological psychic powers to surprise his visitors? He opened the door with aplomb, using his entire body weight to push it as far open as he could, grunting in the process. Thank Glob the visitor's weren't here yet.

He stood, waiting for the sound of their footsteps.

"I have been expecting you two", he said. Shermy beamed.

***

Shermy and Beth walked in so much more slowly and cautiously than before that they barely made any move at all. 

"Beth", Shermy whispered, "you're overdoing it."

"Psht, see it as a challenge, Shermes", she said, "then you might actually not break anything."

"Are you two coming in for tea?", the King of Ooo asked. 

"G-gladly!"

Beth's voice sounded shrill to her own ears, like it might actually walk out of her mouth, take that statue of a king or that "Last night while you were writing yours"-sign and tear them limb from limb.

"Then sit down", the King said, "and make yourselves comfortable. I just need a minute. Don't touch my stuff!"

"We won't, sir!", Shermy said, saluting with one hand, almost knocking something over that ever-so-precariously remained on its place.  The King took a long look at Shermy. "Wait, your sword... Isn't that..." "Yes! I found it on top of the tree, wanna see?" Shermy pulled the sword off his back, almost cutting a statue to pieces in the process, and offered it to the King. The King hesitated for a second before shaking his head, or rather his entire body. "No, keep it. It's yours now. Swords are useless if you don't have to use them." "Oh, I'll use it alright! All the time, Sir!"

The King glanced at him, then shrugged and went to another part of the house with his teapot. The sounds of boiling water soon filled the small room, and some of the things inside seemed to hum along in harmony, as if this was the place they had always hoped to end up in. Even though it was a total mess, with books, a drum set, strings and small battleaxes lying about everywhere, growing toward the ceiling in a never-ending spiral of stuff, every single thing fit.

Shermy looked at a weirdly-shaped cylinder-like thingy with four holes inside of it. "Beth, take a look at this! Isn't this cool? It looks like it's from outer space!"

"Don't touch it."

He touched it. He turned around. His facial expression was unreadable. "I'm not touching that ever again, ever."

"G-good", Beth said.

"So", she heard a voice from behind her, "what might the porpoise of your visit?"

"King, we..."

The King set down a small tray of tea, three cups on saucers, and wiggled a dolphin-shaped glove onto his small hand. 

"I'm the porpoise of your visit!", he said in a high-pitched, fluttery voice while moving the hand-puppet. 

"What's that?", Shermy asked. 

"That's a porpoise. They were quite the animal. One of them stole my wallet once, but he was a nice guy."

"Oh, I see. That's cool! Is this the guy? Did you kill him and stuff him?"

"No, no, I don't do that sort of stuff. I had people who did it for me."

A deep silence descended upon the house.

"I am just kidding. Is this the face of a tyrant?"

The King smiled, and Beth had to admit that it was not.

"So, the purpose of our visit is...", she started.

"Beth thinks you're lonely and we found a picture", Shermy said. He sat down in front of the King of Ooo, facing him directly. "Are you lonely up here?"

The King shook his head. "Kings don't feel lonely. They look out of a window for hours and are very cool."

Beth sat down as well. None of the seats fit her, so she just plumped down on the ground. Even the floor was strangely comfortable, as if some weird warmth was filling the house from the inside. The tea was very delicious, too. The King had added some cinnamon, and it made Beth feel home. 

"What picture did you find?"

"Well, we thought, since we broke your stuff last time - still sorry about that, by the way." Beth waited for an answer, but the King just nodded for her to continue. "We wanted to bring you something, to make up for it. Something you might like to have here. We collected our fair share of treasure, you know."

"Of course you have", he said. 

"Yeah!", Shermy added. "It's what we do."

The King smiled, even though he seemed weirdly sad, staring down at his teacup as if he saw something there that went beyond a stray tea leaf in the swirl of his spoon. 

"While I was searching through our stuff, I found this in one of the books I got from the library", Beth said. She reached inside of her little portal pocket dimension, pulled out the faded Polaroid and gave it to the King.

For a second, it seemed to her that he didn't recognize the people in the picture, but then, his eyes cleared up, his mouth turned into a crooked smile and he took off the beard, just like he had when telling them the story. 

"That's me", he said, "that's me, over there."

He pointed to the very bottom of the picture. There he was, holding on to the pant legs of the man standing next to him, with a small flower crown on his head. The entire group of people photographed stood in a large bed of tulips, daisies and many more kinds of bloomyness, and even though the polaroid had faded, the flowers still looked bright and vibrant. It was the first thing Beth had noticed - she'd never seen any like this before.

"I barely made it because I set the timer for the picture!"

"Who's this guy?", Shermy asked, pointing to one of the seven people on the picture, a man in glasses who stood on the far left side. His hair was graying at the edges, but he looked at the camera with eyes that were still bright, despite the years. His suit was new, a dark brown that looked almost black on the faded photograph, and he looked just like someone who loved sitting for hours in a library.

"That's Simon", the King said, "he was the Ice King in the story I told you. This was... twenty years after the story, I think."

"Is that next to him Marceline?", Beth asked. 

The King nodded. She had been trying out a new, shorter hairstyle again, and had cut her hair so it looked like she'd spent all day trying to wrestle it into shape. It made her look strangely sophisticated, but still happy - she was standing between her two favourite people, after all. Still, she couldn't help making a face at the camera. 

"That here", the King said, "that's Princess Bubblegum."

"Oh! I wondered what she looked like!", Shermy said. 

Her hair was long and flowing, her clothes that of someone deeply in love - the faded pink didn't to justice to the way she had looked that day, with her long and flowing skirt. She was looking at Marceline, nothing but kindness in her eyes. They must have already been thinking about their first longer journey together, the King was certain about it.

"Journey?", Shermy asked.

"They're on one now", the King answered. "If you're alive when they come back, I might introduce you. If you're good children until then."

"These guys must be Phil and Jake, right?", Beth said, pointing a finger at the two people in the picture's centre. 

"His... his name was Finn", the King said, "and yes, they are. And that's me."

"Down there?"

"Yes, I look so different now, it's hard to recognize me. I've gone all wrinkly."

Shermy and Beth exchanged a look. They shrugged. 

"They look really strong", Shermy said. 

The King nodded. They had been heroes, after all. No, wait. They still were. 

"You're wearing a flower crown here, right?", Beth asked. "Were you a Princess for some time, or a Prince?"

"With Finn and Jake, I could be anything."

The King let the picture sink for a second, staring off into the distance. "But no. I was their friend."

"Oh, that's too bad. I bet being a Princess in the olden days was awesome"; Shermy said.

"Yes", the King said, looking Shermy square in the eyes, "but being a friend was, too."

"The last person's Peppermint Butler, right?", Beth asked. 

The King looked at the picture again.

"Oh boy! Yes, of course. It's just before he used his magic abilities to restore his memory! He was so cute before. Wonder what he's up to."

"We know him! He's alive and well and very creepy", Shermy said.

"Sounds just like him", the King said, giggling. 

"Do you... I'm sorry if I'm intruding, but I have to ask. Do you miss them?"

"No, of course not! I'm a King, Kings don't get sad. Though... I can't look at this picture for too long."

He put it away, into a small pocket in his beard.

"It makes my heart hurt."

Shermy and Beth looked at each other again. Was bringing the picture even a good idea in the first place? They'd only made the King even more sad and lonely.

"Thank you for coming", he said, "but I want to be alone now. Please leave. Please."

It sounded as nice and kind as anything he'd ever said, but they knew there'd be no negotiating this. 

Before she closed the door, Beth turned around to face the King. He was looking at the steam rising from his still-full teacup before he looked up at her.

"We're sorry if we sorta ruined your day", she said. 

"It's alright. You can come back whenever you like, and we can try again."

Beth breathed a sigh of relief. Good. Thank Glob. 

"What can we bring you?"

"Flowers."

"What kind of flowers, sir?"

"The pretty kind."

"Thank you."

She heard the King hum a song to himself as she left with Shermy on her shoulder.

A week later, the King received a bouquet of small flowers by his doorstep, but there was nobody there, so he took them inside, put them in a vase and looked at them all day.

A month later, a potted plant. A cactus. It was a nice cactus. He named it Shelby. 

Two months later, three potted plants, two of which were small trees and another cactus - and a letter. "So you're still around, huh? Reunion soon? The girls are coming back, too. - Peps."

BMO lay in bed, reading the letter again and again. He put in the box he kept under his pillow. The picture Shermy and Beth had brought him fell out again. He remembered the day it was taken, the way he had just thrown himself into the flowers after the picture was done, with no regard for his crown, how PB and Marceline had laughed, how Peppermint Butler had stumbled over to Simon and requested to be carried somewhere, how Finn and Jake had done a mock fight for the picture, Jake ultimately emerging victorious, laughing his belly laugh, tumbling into the flowers next to Finn and BMO. 

If he closed his eyes, he could still almost smell them, just like he had back then - Simon had described the smell of flowers to him so well one time that he felt it, he really did, whenever he was around them. He extended his hand and Finn took it. 

"What's the matter, you okay, man?"

BMO nodded and drifted off to sleep. A couple of digital tears dripped down his face, passed his smile on the way off his screen for nobody to see at all, because Kings did not cry, but little brothers and best friends did, all the time. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading, you people. I had a large amount of fun writing this. I'd love to read any and all of your comments!


	3. Forevermore, For Evermore.

There were voices coming from inside the castle (though it was a small house, really, they'd have to talk to the King about that). Shermy and Beth put the flowers down, but Shermy picked them right back up and sneaked to the door.

"Shermes! What are you doing?", Beth whispered. "I'm sure we shouldn't bother the King right now!" 

"You'll die bored and uninformed, Beth", Shermy said, "and I will die entertained!"

"You'll die any moment if you keep it up like this."

"My point still stands."

They heard an instrument being played inside - it sounded much like a guitar, just much deeper in tone. A woman's voice called out, laughing.

"I can't believe you still have this."

Another voice joined, this one familiar. They looked at each other. "Peppermint Butler!", they said in unison.

"I told him to tidy up in here", Peps said, "but you should've seen it before I came here. If I'd been here before last week, this would look like a palace."

"Reminds me of old times, doesn't it, Peps?", an even softer voice said, sounding like the sweetest type of candy Beth had never tasted. 

"Oh, yeah", Peppermint Butler answered, "I bet it does. Want me to be your butler again? We better fight to the death."

"Ah, I can handle myself. I let you go, remember? Be your own candy."

"You hurt my feelings back then, Bonnie."

"Bonnie...", Beth said, looking at Shermy. "Wasn't that..."

"Princess Bubblegum!", the two of them said in unison.

"Still not over it, after all those years, Peps?", she continued. 

"Nay, I have a new job now. You best be glad I'm not knocking on your door at night anymore."

"Crying."

"I wasn't crying!"

"Were too!"

"Must I remind you of..."

The conversation dissolved into a conspiratory whispering match between Peppermint Butler and Princess Bubblegum, all made even harder to hear by the loud sound of laughter of the other woman present.

"Lemme - lemme try listening!" Beth said, leaning against the door.

"I was here first! You go to the back, soldier!", Shermy answered, holding on to the flowers for dear life while Beth slowly encroached on his tiny, but still important personal space. 

"But - this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance!", she said, leaning more heavily against the door. "If we just hear what they're saying, we might have dirt on Peps!"

"What do you think I'm trying to do over here?", Shermy wheezed, feeling the air squeeze out of his lungs. He sent a quick prayer to Glob and crawled underneath Beth, freeing himself from the death-trap that was the space between her and the door.

The sudden loss of a cushion, however, made the force Beth used to encroach upon the door more than excessive. She fell against the door with no way of stopping, and the old wood heaved, cracked and ultimately gave way to her - she landed inside of the house, lying on top of the door, her ear still pressed against it.

"Ah!", the King said, carrying a tray of tea, "I'm so glad you could all make it, this is the best day of this week!"

He looked at Beth. "Oh! Dramatic moment!" With a swirl of his hand, he dropped the tray on the floor. Peps stretched out his hand and caught the tea in mid-air, the other hand firmly pointed at Beth.

"Who comes to disturb the King's doma- oh, it's just you guys."

Princess Bubblegum, still just as radiant and, most importantly, pink as the King had described her, walked over to Beth lying on the floor. 

"Oh, you poor being - are you alright?"

"Y- yeah- I'm totes fine! Look at me! I'm good!", Beth said. She stood up, hitting her head on the low ceiling of the door. 

"Geeze, try being more smooth", Shermy said, stepping in with the flowers. 

The other woman, her hair a mixture of gray and black strands, her skin as pale as white ash with some wrinkles around her eyes and mouth, floated over to the door, an instrument shaped like an axe in her hand, ready to strike.

"Are those guys bothering you, BMO?", she asked. She bared her fangs, and both Shermy and Beth died a little, but just a little. Shermy less, of course, as he would tell everyone they knew later.

"No, Marceline, they're alright", the King said, "they come over to the castle sometimes and bring me flowers."

"Oh, so they're the guys you told us about", Marceline said. Her fangs disappeared, much to the relief of Beth and, to a much, much lesser extent, that of Shermy, who was not scared at all.

"Yeah", Peps said, "they're just a bunch of amateurs who think they're big game." He smirked to himself.

"I'll show you big game, Peps!"

"Yeah, lemme see."

"I'll show you outside."

"I'll come outside then, you little pudding!"

Peppermint Butler and Shermy stared each other down while they moved past the door - but not before Peps set down the teacups on the table, with all of their respective contents returned safely. Beth was left standing there, alone, with two of Ooos biggest legends before her. Marceline was still floating, albeit she didn't look as imposing up close. In fact, both her and Bonnie just looked sort of nice. They smelled nice, too. Beth would later describe the smell in her diary as "Licorice-like, but sort of better."

"We really didn't mean to inrude", she said then, trying to look them in the eyes but failing. "We - uh - we just listened in. I mean, we didn't, it's..."

"It's alright", Princess Bubblegum said, "we're here so rarely, of course my people would like to see me."

"Your people?", Beth asked.

"Uh, Bonnie", Marceline said, "You know, it's, uh..."

"Oh. Right."

Princess Bubblegum looked down before finding Marceline's eyes. As soon as they looked stares, something in the room changed - Beth felt as if small hearts were somehow floating around them. 

"You're still so pretty, you know that?", Princess Bubblegum said, cupping Marceline's face.

"Bonnie, not in frntf..."

Beth looked away. Common courtesy. 

"I'll go check on the Prize Ball Guardian", the Princess said, "you can stay here and keep BMO company for a while. Glob knows he can use it."

"I am right here", BMO said, "and currently in a very good companial condition, thank you!"

"I'll stay", Marceline said, "somone's gotta keep an eye on him. So he doesn't run off."

"I have been here for hundreds of years, and..."

"Pssht", she whispered, "I wanna talk to you, dingus."

"Aaah. Of course."

Beth's ears perked up at the mention of the Prize Ball Guardian, but she couldn't just interrupt what the King and Marceline were saying, right? After all, a King and a Queen, at least of some sort, were talking. It wasn't proper. She'd been raised well. However, when she saw the Princess leaving so quickly, she ran after her - there was no way she'd pass this up.

"Princess!"

"Yes? And please, just call me Bonnie."

Princess Bubblegum stroked her hair. "There's no Candy Kingdom anymore, after all." She looked out at the ruins. Her breath caught in her throat. "It seems worse every time. And to think it's... It's my fault... I can't really call myself a ruler anymore, not with a straight face, anyway."

"Of course - but you're still a Princess, aren't you?"

She smiled at Beth. Beth felt the red in her cheeks pulse. The way Bonnie saw her and saw through her at once was almost scary if she hadn't seemed so hurt by the world around her. The longer she kept staring back at the ruins, the more her body sank and sank into itself, before she cleared her throat and straightened herself up again.

"Yeah, I guess that's technically true, though not necessarily... nevermind. How can I help you?"

"Can I accompany you to the PBG?"

"I don't see why not. I'll just erase any memory you have of confidential stuff after we're done."

"What?"

"Nothing. Come along, let's go."

The Princess yelled out "CACAAAWW!", and a giant, mechanical bird swooped down from the heavens and picked both her and Beth up. Just as they left, Shermy and Peppermint Butler tumbled through the idyllic front porch of the castle, engaged in an intense battle of wits and fisticuffs.

"Are those guys gonna be fine?", Marceline asked BMO.

BMO shrugged. "They did it the last time I saw them together. They'll survive."

"Good, 'cause I've been meaning to ask you if you're okay."

BMO turned to look at her, his eyes suspicious. "Is this a trick question? If so, Marcy, I must warn you, my wits have been sharpened."

"No, no, I really mean it - are you alright? Like, is it okay staying here? Now? I remember the last time we came here, you know."

"So do I. It's because I have a good memory."

"I know you do, bro."

She caressed the top of his head with her palm, feeling a couple of tiny cracks that hadn't been there before.

"But isn't it a bit much for you? Up until, like, a week ago, Peps didn't even know you were still here. And we've been gone for a good hundred years this time."

"That was a very long journey. I missed you."

"Shorter ones from now on, don't worry. We got trapped in a pocket dimension."

Marceline shuddered. "Long story."

"Tell me?"

"Next time. BMO, you still didn't answer my question. Do you even want to stay, like, the King of Ooo?"

BMO looked around the castle's interior. All those old things, slowly collecting dust. Peppermint Butler had cleaned most of them the first and second times he'd come, but some of them still looked positively ancient. They were, after all. But then he noticed something standing by a small table, right below the window - a single pale rose, fresh and alive, brought only a couple of days ago by the small one. Shermy. He'd learned their names, but it was hard not to call them something different every time they came. 

Marceline followed his eyes until she also saw the rose. 

"Oh, I get it."

She turned to face BMO and smiled down at him. 

"I see", she continued. "Hey, do you want me to play you the song? I know you love the last part."

"My song? That's my favourite song!"

"'Cause it's about you, right?"

"Yeah, but also because you wrote it."

Marceline gave a court bow, her beautiful gray-black hair hiding her face from BMO's view. He thought she looked almost like a human waterfall in the night that moment, the moon's light breaking and reforming in her current.

"Then here goes", she said. She took a deep breath, struck a few notes on her bass and sang the final, the one BMO kept under his pillow all these years:

" _And even if all worlds should end  
_

_When there's nothing more to say_

_Even when all of your friends_

_Pack their stuff and move away_

_When there's no reason to pretend_

_You're just fine or you're okay -_

_The King of Ooo, the King of Ooo,_

_He'll be there, and there for you_

_If you try to be his friend_

_He will try and be yours too_

_He'll love you when his heart feels blue_

_Isn't that what friends should do?_

 

_Oh the King, the King of Ooo,_

_blessed with a heart so true._

_May you find his castle's door,_

_May it stay forevermore -_

_Forevermore, Forever more,_

_For evermore, Forevermore."_

 

BMO clapped. "Yay! Thank you."

"You're welcome, BMO."

Just then, a loud explosion rocked the mountain. 

"You'll never take me alive!", Shermy yelled. Marceline and BMO heard his sword meet something equally sharp with a loud clang, accompanied by the familiar hum of Pep-Butt's dark magic.

"We'll see about that!", the magician said. Another explosion. Louder this time. 

"Is this all you got?", Shermy yelled. "Feel the wrath of my blade, old man!"

"I, uh, I better go check", Marceline said, pointing outside. 

"Please do", BMO answered, more than a little concern entering his voice. Marceline nodded and floated outside. 

"What do you think you're doing! You're..."

Her voice soon moved too far away to hear, and BMO thought for a second how it might have been had they never returned, had Peppermint Butler not come to visit. Would he have stayed alone with all of his old things and memories, just like in the song? Forevermore?

He looked at the signs around him, the old weapons, the books he'd read and re-read countless times, the small journals of pulp detective fiction by one of the Candy People. But as soon as his eyes started to wander, they returned to the rose. It was fresh, new. There ware beads of water on one of its leaves, and it made the plant look like it was made of light. 

BMO looked outside. The mechanical Morrow was flying towards the PBG, two faint dots, PB and Beth, on its back. Marceline was lecturing Peppermint Butler and Shermy, both of them sulking, both saying the other had started it. Sweet Pea was sitting in the forest, towering high above it, birds around his head.

It wasn't anything like the old views from the tree house, the never-ending plains and fields, the Ice Kingdom, the Candy Kingdom, Huntress Wizard's eagle-form hunting somewhere in the distance.

But it was still good, wasn't it?

BMO stepped outside and called to Marcy, Shermy and Peps. 

"The tea is still warm, you know!"

They slowly walked back inside, Shermy and Peppermint Butler, both with torn clothes and tired faces, begrudgingly sharing a fist-bump under Marceline's careful eye, and it felt like the past again, like an hour or two spent in better days when the greens were brighter and the sky was blue. At least for a little while, before he missed the sound of two voices among theirs again. Shermy sounded just like Finn, he thought, but not enough. Not quite enough. Finn had never fought Peppermint Butler. Heck, Finn had never been a small cat-like creature, for that matter.

But still, when watching Shermy talk to Peps, to Marceline, to Bubblegum and Beth as soon as they had returned, the latter slightly dazed, it seemed to him that the small one moved like him, drank tea like him, even laughed like him at times. But then, it would cease to be, the image fade, the voice of Finn return to nothing again. But there it was again - like a dolphin playing, diving into and out of the ocean, it came back and left and left again. BMO stared at Shermy, waiting for the moment when everything would make sense.

Shermy noticed. "Hey, King", he said, "I was wondering, what happened to Finn? I know you said they kept living their lives and all, but, you know. Just curious. If you don't mind. And stuff."

The table waited for BMO to answer, but he just shook his head. "He was a hero", he said, "and that's enough for now."

But he couldn't keep himself from remembering. He stared down at his teacup again, feeling the eyes of Peppermint Butler, Princess Bubblegum and Marceline on him. They remembered too, of course they did.

Under the table Marceline quietly took his hand, unnoticed by the others, and held on to it for the briefest moment, as if trying to a catch a memory of a soft voice, glasses and a plush toy before it disappeared into forever.

And sitting there, his hand held, the people he knew around him, it almost felt like home again. Just with a hole left by two voices, two pairs of hands still missing. 

Shermy sprouted tea out of his nose, Beth laughing all the while, because Peppermint Butler told him a joke he was entirely too young to understand. The two adventurers looked at each other, eyes full of understanding.

No, BMO thought. They weren't Finn and Jake, mostly. But they were here. And that was something. 

Something new.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's all folks, wrap it up, curtain call! This story's over. That doesn't mean Shermy and Beth's adventures in future Ooo are over, however - just that BMO's house is getting awfully cramped with all these people coming to visit :)
> 
> I really hope you enjoy this one as well. Consider it a long a epilogue to the short story the first two chapters make. Again, I'd love to read all of your comments - and hope you're having a great day, wherever you might be.

**Author's Note:**

> An incredibly kind soul called soupery on tumblr drew amazing, amazing, amazing art for this story. Take a look right here: http://soupery.tumblr.com/post/179231074769/flowers-for-bmo-king-of-ooo-is-the-sweetest-at


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